Budget tech is a gamble. Sometimes, you strike gold with surprisingly functional gadgets, and other times, you’re left with nothing more than paperweights. After my successful experiment with AliExpress tech bargains earlier this year, I decided to explore what my neighborhood dollar stores had to offer.
Armed with a $10-per-item budget, I scoured the aisles and collected 10 different tech gadgets to put through their paces. The mission was to separate the hidden gems from the inevitable duds.
Given the sheer number of products tested, each review will be concise but thorough, focusing on what matters most — performance, value, and whether these bargain finds are worth your hard-earned cash. Let’s dive in and see what surprises await.
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Dollar Tree
Although Dollar Tree employees were redoing the store’s prices during my last visit, it’s still the most affordable store on this list. Despite the low prices, its tech fared surprisingly well.
Winner’s Circle Vacuum Cleaner
- Cost: $7
- Verdict: Good enough
When I tested car vacuums for CNET last year, I wanted to include the $7 Winner’s Circle Vacuum Cleaner to compare it with brands like Worx and Dyson. However, I decided against it because wired 12-volt models made testing more difficult in my home office.
But here we are, and I can confidently say that the vacuum works. It seems to struggle with large pebbles, but performs roughly as well as last-place Drecell car vacuum — at least it has a larger dustbin. The accessories are flimsy, and the 9-foot power cord limits mobility compared with a battery-powered model.
Bytech Wi-Fi Smart RGB Bulb
- Cost: $7
- Verdict: Keeper, for now
I ran across Bytech products in many of the dollar stores I visited, so it’s not just a house brand. After the recent issue with my Sengled bulbs, I’m switching my home’s smart light bulbs to Zigbee, but I grabbed the $7 Bytech Wi-Fi bulb anyway. There’s nothing particularly special compared with similarly priced bulbs found on Amazon — it even supports Google Home and Amazon Alexa. But as a Wi-Fi option, you’re at the mercy of servers shutting down if Bytech ever goes out of business.
E-Circuit USB to Type C Adapter Keeper
- Cost: $1.50
- Verdict: Keeper
The E-Circuit USB to Type C Adapter’s USB 2.0 data transfer speeds are an acceptable trade-off for being able to use the hub in my monitor rather than a mishmash of dongles. One of these days, I’ll switch to a laptop with USB-C ports, but this is a solid holdover until then.
Five Below
Last summer, Five Below impressed me with a surprisingly solid set of smart string lights for under $6, which have become a mainstay for tent lighting while camping. While these weren’t in stock at my store this time, they’re still the gold standard for great dollar store tech. So I was understandably hopeful that Five Below could deliver some more excellent tech.
Up-Tech FreeVoice Clip-On Microphone
- Cost: $5
- Verdict: Good enough
While I can confirm that the FreeVoice Clip-On Microphone works well enough, the recordings often have a scratchy quality instead of a clean audio experience. Still, the microphone is sensitive enough to pick up quiet speech, and every sample I recorded was easy to understand.
Bass Jaxx Air Conduction True Wireless Ear Cuffs
Two kinds of headphones made my hit list for dollar store tech: active noise-canceling earbuds that I could compare with my Google Pixel Buds Pro and bone conduction headphones to pit against my wife’s passable Lobkin headphones (no longer available). Sadly, I couldn’t find any bone conduction headphones in any of the stores, even above the price limit. While I found some active-noise canceling earbuds at Five Below, the $12 price disqualified them (maybe I’ll try them out next time).
Instead, I grabbed some Air Conduction True Wireless Earcuffs for $8. The sound quality on these is fairly decent — though not very loud. Likewise, the bass isn’t powerful, and the tinny treble lacks richness. That’s where the somewhat good parts end. They’re uncomfortable to put on, and you have to turn them on manually after removing them from their case. The built-in buttons aren’t obvious unless you read the manual. I really missed the seamless experience of pulling my Pixel Buds Pro from their case without extra steps.
Bass Jaxx Amped Wireless Speaker
- Cost: $8
- Verdict: Good Enough
I was surprised that the Bass Jaxx Amped Wireless Speaker’s treble and midtones sounded as good as they did. While the bass was much weaker than my Tribit XSoundGo SE, Bose SoundLink Mini and Google Nest Audio, it wasn’t nonexistent like I expected. It’s just powerful enough for a kid’s first Bluetooth speaker without being too loud for everyone else in the house. Simpler recordings like audiobooks and podcasts hold up even better.
It’s also a decent option for a temporary speaker that you take on a picnic without fear of it disappearing. It’s one of the larger speakers at Five Below, but I suspect that other, smaller Bass Jaxx speakers at the store produce a similar performance.
Dollar General
Dollar General doesn’t have quite the presence in my home state of Utah as it does in some other states, but I was able to find a few intriguing tech items. Oddly enough, both items are kitschy accessories for smartphones because Dollar General’s other interesting tech was pricier than my $10 per-item limit.
iJoy Smartphone Projector Cinema
The $10 iJoy Smartphone Projector Cinema is a seemingly nifty case with a mirror and lens that allows you to project a 40-inch image of your smartphone screen on a wall. This kind of passive portable projector has been around for ages, but it’s just as underwhelming as the price suggests.
First, while you can get decent image quality in some places, the cheap plastic lenses and mirror add a heavy vignette that blurs most of the image outside the center, making it unwatchable, especially with on-screen text. Projecting onto a textured wall makes it even worse. However, I found it somewhat charming for classic anime since the 4:3 aspect ratio doesn’t show as much distortion, kind of like watching a bootleg VHS tape.
I have some DIY ideas for swapping the optics, but that won’t fix the second problem: brightness. Since this thing relies exclusively on your smartphone for light, it will never look bright enough for comfortable viewing, even in the pitch-black bathroom where I tried it out.
At best, I could see this as a fun diversion for a kid’s backyard sleepover since they’re less likely to care about image quality. Even then, it’s no substitute for a modern TV, which is easy to buy used in thrift stores or online marketplaces for relatively cheap.
Billboard Game Joystick:
- Cost: $2.50
- Verdict: Reject
The other item from Dollar General is a $2.50 Billboard Game Joystick that clips onto your phone for use with games. Judging by the visible layer of dust on the box, I might’ve been the first person to buy one of these in ages. I’ve never really liked touchscreen gaming on my phone because the screen has no tactile feedback.
This thumbstick seemed to work OK when I tried it with Minecraft and Doom, but I had to remove my phone case to get the best placement for good movement. A Bluetooth controller from 8BitDo or a mobile gaming controller like GameSir is probably a better bet.
Family Dollar
My brief visit to Family Dollar was disappointing because the limited selection of tech was the same retread of headphones and speakers found at other stores. Like Dollar General, most of the tech proved too expensive for my price limit. (I’d rather spend $5 to $8 on cheap headphones than $15 for something unlikely to be much better.) While I nearly bought a pair of home security door alarms for around $4, I ultimately left empty-handed.
Daiso
I was fortunate to travel to Japan a few years ago, and some of my go-to stores for picking up souvenirs for family and friends were “100 yen stores” — basically a dollar store. One of these brands, Daiso, has been in the US for around two decades but only recently opened a location near me. Naturally, I added it to my Dollar Store tech list.
My overall impression of Daiso is how distinctly Japanese it is — nearly all of the prices are listed in yen with helpful conversion charts to dollars throughout the store. Aside from some US-manufactured goods from Japanese companies, almost everything in the store is made in Japan — you won’t see much of it at the other stores on this list. The tech section is smaller than at Five Below, but very few of the items seem like different versions of the same speakers and headphones.
Right-Angle HDMI Adapter
- Cost: $2.25
- Verdict: Keeper
At $2.25, the HDMI adapter is the cheapest I’ve seen in a store that is not part of a multipack. Despite what those sellers believe, I don’t need four adapters, just one for my older MacBook Pro, which has an HDMI port on the opposite side from my monitor. I did have one issue requiring me to restart my monitor to reestablish the HDMI connection, so be wary if you want flawless performance.
USB Circulator Fan
- Cost: $11
- Verdict: Good Enough
I was excited about the circulator fan, which cost around $11, but I wanted something large enough to place on my bedside table for summer. My existing, smaller fan is also a cheap USB model, but has only one speed compared to the two-speed circulator. When I tested the airflow of each fan, the circulator wasn’t nearly as powerful, but I like that I have a gentler option that doesn’t dry me out as much.
Should you buy dollar store tech?
My experience buying dollar store tech was better than I expected. That said, I have no idea if any of these products are durable enough to last more than a few months. Some products, like the “projector” and joystick, rely too much on novelty to be practical for most people. In contrast, there’s always room in my home for utilitarian fans, smart bulbs and cable adapters. Audio devices like speakers and microphones are trickier since audio quality preferences vary widely from person to person.
While you might not feel like dollar store tech is worth buying for personal use, some people may appreciate having a cheap alternative when money’s tight. Better yet, you can get simple gifts to show your gratitude in a small way.
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